Another slow week. Weather to blame this time but it's comming along. Got the floor joists in for the sleeping loft and built the short wall around the loft. Sheathing and exterior walls are finaly finnished. Now the fun part starts.

Yes Don it will be a window unit with all the trim stripped off. I did the same thing in my workshop and it worked fine. The framed hole is larger than needed in case I need to replace the unit later and can't get one the same size or if I want to put in a larger unit. Most models have remote control now so easy access is not needed.

Is your wall studs on 16 or 24 centers, they look a little big for 16. Also what did you use for your subfloor? What are you plan on doing with the concrete blocks, leave them as is or put somthing over them. I thought of covering them with field stone would give a nice rustic look.

Studs are on 24" centers, subfloor is 23/32" OSB. The house gets a wrap around deck that will hide the blocks on 3 sides. Deck will be supported with large stones. The blocks that remain un-hidden I may cover with stone as you suggested. Undecided at this point.

I didn't have time to look for the round window yet. It's not a high priority at the moment. More concerned with building the roof. I'm a one man show so my time is tight.

Wanted to take a minute to compliment you on your place you did a good job. But what I really think is that you nailed the floor plan and design, great job. Think my wife and me would kill each other in about a week in a place that size but I'm aware of all the advantages and again you really nailed it.

Are you going to do your barrel ceiling. How? Wood? I have played around with spruce/pine and fir over the years, spruce/pine on the flat and the fir on edge 3/4" revel, every 2nd or 3rd or whatever board, gives you a little 3rd dimension look. I thought it came out pretty nice and costumers liked it, didn't take much wood working skills so it was fairly cheap, but gave you a different look. Just a thought, one thing I learned is that you can love something and someone else can hate it. I really liked that scrape wood stair case that was posted and if it works out with the design, I do want to do some eyebrow dormers.

Thanks again for the advice you usually have some good ideas, among many others I want to add

Thanks alot Mike. I worked on tweaking this floor plan for several months including doing some mock ups to try out the space. Right now it looks like the barrel cieling will be done with T&G white pine but plywood has also been suggested. I'm also thinking of possibly using hardwood flooring. We're going to incorporate some sort of bent trim work on the cieling as well for a 3d effect. The whole thing is still in the design stage so we'll see. Like everything else on this project, when the right idea pops up we know it and run with it. My wife and I share a tiny office so we're used to being close.

Here is an example so you can get some idea what the barrel vault cieling will look like. We're hoping for a look very close to this. This will be in the sleeping loft area only. Framing is done by attaching plywood gusets, cut to the proper curve, to the framing. I think the radius will end up being 6'.Peg will think I'm crazy for sure now.

In the main living area I'm going to build a three trusses similar to the ones in this picture. They will be installed after the roof is on so the only thing structural about them will be to function as collar ties. I'll use some temporary ties to hold the walls plumb until these are installed.

Side walls are framed with 9' precut studs (104 5/8").Pier footings are aprox. 24x24x12" at the 4 corners and aprox. 20x20x12" on the other 11. Keep in mind these piers are sitting in clay/gravel which has a very strong bearing and is quite stable. In some of the holes I hit rock. The cabin is sitting on the crest of a narrow ridge so the soil is well drained. The bottom of the piers are about 18-24" below grade. The spoils from the holes where packed around the piers to increase the depth by about 4-6 more inches. The frost line here is less than 12"

The frame is not PT except in the veranda area.

Been a few days since an update...both lofts have been decked and the lumber for the roof is on site. Just waiting for a break in the rain to get going again.

Each pier has a long 1/2" anchor bolt set into it which passes through the framing. I used several sizes of washers to step up to a large (1 1/2" o.d.) washer and tighted the works down against the pier. There is an asphalt shingle on the top of each pier between the wood and the concrete.

You can kinda see the bolts in this pic. The beams are 3 boards wide everywhere else except this corner and the bolts come up in the center. Maybe not the perfect solution but it turned out pretty solid.

Wow, you just started on the roof today? I thought you were working alone? I'm amazed at how quickly the whole thing has come up since the fall. At the rate you're going, you'll have it dried in in no time at all.